A decent set of beginner advice to care of vinyl

Vinyl records occupy a vastly different place in the world of 2009, Jaybo. The average "wiper" doesn't own records anymore. They are now the domain of the scrubbers.

Cheers.

Scrubbing and/or rubbing with a carbon fiber brush?

Tfkaudio finally figured out the difference between Jaybo and me - he's a wiper, I'm a scrubber. I just knew hanging around here would pay off eventually.

Bokonon42,
I'd recommend what Tvad said, though cheaper brushes would be okay. Nothing wrong with using $2 nylon-bristled Last brushes, or even painting pads from Walmart, to spread the solution he recommended.

AIVS One-Step plus an AIVS Ultra Pure Water rinse works as well as or better than any similarly simple protocol IME.

Another pretty strong recommendation for vacuum removal of whatever cleaning solution(s) and rinse(s) you choose. That doesn't have to be expensive or slow, see several suggestions above. Only we manic scrubbers feel a need to spend thousands of dollars and hours. It's a matter of what you hear and how you react to it, for wipers and scrubbers alike.

Is that dust on my PC screen? Eww! Yuck!! I'm gonna Loricraft it right now.

You'll need:

a) Some kind of cleaning regimen-particularly if you plan to, or already do, own used vinyl. There is zero-and I mean absolute zero-agreement on how to do this, so I'd do a search over at VA, choose a method that meets your criteria for patience/obsessiveness/cost, experiment a little, and then stick with it. I'd definitely recommend some sort of vacuum cleaning device (can be very simple/cheap or complicated/expensive), and I'd ignore 'jaybo's dismissal of the practice-it makes the difference between enjoying records (especially used) or going back to digital.

(b discard the paper liners, and find a source for poly or 'rice paper' sleeves. Again, little consensus, search at VA, find your cost/quality comfort zone. My favorites are the MFSL 'rice paper', but they're probably the most expensive. Check 'Sleeve City' or 'Bags Unlimited' for other choices. Don't skip this step-those paper sleeves suck-I should say, though, that I save the originals if they have any printing on them, and store them in the outer sleeve.

(c store records in jacket outer sleeves to prevent 'ring wear'

d) buy a carbon fiber brush for a dust-off when you're ready to play

e) store vertically, and snugly, so they don't 'lean'.

That's about it in a nutshell, but as I implied, vinyl can be a vehicle for someone with latent OCD to register a full fledged outbreak. Only you know where the proper cutoff point is, but for a case of way-over-the-line-of-common-sense, check out this method on Fremer's 'Music Angle' http://musicangle.com/feat.php?id=54. Yikes.

i do 'clean or scrub' records, but i'm convinced as much scrubbing goes on today as listening.